


Haunted by the Music

by heffermonkey



Series: Break me Down, Build me Up [4]
Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Memories, Mind Control Aftermath & Recovery, Triggers, haunted
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-17
Updated: 2014-01-17
Packaged: 2018-01-09 01:36:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1139888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heffermonkey/pseuds/heffermonkey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny is emotionally triggered with memories as Grace unsuspectingly plays a song of his past.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Haunted by the Music

**Author's Note:**

> Set post 'Break Me Down', 2 years later when Danny and Steve now live together. 
> 
> it's been a long time since I visited this particular story line, nice to play in the sandbox again.

Danny is in the bedroom changing the sheets when the music blares. Grace has been home all of half an hour and obviously thinks the louder the music the easier her homework will get done. Danny let's it slide for five minutes, mainly because he's battling to get the corners just right on the bed. But the sound doesn't turn down and they do have nieghbours, albeit a few yards away and it is late afternoon, they wouldn't mind too much. Still, he leaves the bed half done and walks along the hall to tap on her door and ask her to turn it down.

He recoils so fast it knocks the breath out of him, a silent cry choking his throat. A familiar thud thud thud beat emanates from Grace's room and a cold chill tingles up his spine. He braces himself up against the wall, feeling cold but a sweat breaks out on his brow. Transported back to a place he still sees in his nightmares, haunted by memories of Victor and his time with him.

The music acts like a force field and he backtracks suddenly along the hall, hands scrambling the wall for purchase until he reaches their bedroom again. Stumbling inside he shuts the door, as if somehow it will protect him, but the music is loud enough to continue torturing him in the confined space.

Memories bombard his mind, the torture, the fatigue. The music that had kept him from sleeping, punishment for disobedience. It took all his strength not to sink to his knees, obedience had always made it stop. But he wasn't there any more, he was home. He sat on the edge of the bed instead, covering his ears. It would take a minute to make it stop, going to Grace's room, begging her to turn it off. But he feels sick to his stomach and he can't bear the idea of moving closer to the source of the noise.

He sits out the four or so minutes it takes for the music to end and another song begins, a different beat, a lighter sound. But still his body trembles and he tries to wipe the memories from his minds eye. He doesn't know how long he sits there, quiet, clawing his way back to sanity. He jumps when he hears Steve's voice shouting over the noise, in the hall beyond asking Grace to turn the music down and after a few seconds it drops a couple of octaves. Danny knows it was a simple enough request, easily done, but a couple of minutes ago it was the biggest ask in the world.

He jumps when the door opens, he shouldn't be surprised, why else would Steve be upstairs unless he was heading into their bedroom. Steve looks irritated when he opens the door, surprised to see him just sitting there.

"You going to allow her to blast her music like that all day?" Steve asks, walking across the floor.

Danny sits straighter, wiping sweaty palms against his trousers, words stuck in his throat. Steve isn't paying attention, going over to the window to open it further. It's a beautiful day outside, not much breeze and it's warm inside.

"So I figured it's so nice out today how about we barbeque, I got stuff from the store," Steve said, changing the subject, turning around to him. Danny stood up, trying to get his brain into gear. His meltdown made him feel exhausted and nauseous. How could a couple of minutes make him feel so drained?

"Yeah – uh," He mumbled, his mouth felt dry and words too much to handle.

"Jesus, what happened?" Steve says, by his side in a few short steps, hands on his shoulders, looking at him closely. "Danny what's wrong?"

Danny moves against him like he's a lifeline, reminding himself of where he is right now compared to where he had been. The experience is still fresh enough to scare him and haunt him.

"I, it's," Danny tries to put into words. "The music. Grace, it was the music Hesse used-."

"Shit baby," Steve mutters against his neck, holding him tight, face buried into his shoulder. "It's okay, you're home, you're safe."

"I'll be okay," Danny agrees, feeling the fear begin to recede. It's been a long time since he had such a bad reaction.

"Yes, you will be. You are," Steve replies, not letting go. "I'm here."

"I just, it felt like-," Danny can't put into words what had occurred. "I couldn't stop it."

"It's alright Danno," Steve whispers softly. "I'll talk to Grace, we'll make sure it doesn't happen again."

Danny pulls back a little, hands resting on Steve's chest, fiddling with lapels of his unbuttoned shirt.

"But what if it does happen again? What if-," Danny struggles to think of the possibilities.

"Hey we'll call Al, you can talk to him about it," Steve assures him, rubbing his shoulders. "There has to be a way you can control your reactions. You are in control remember? This is the first time this has happened, so we know it's a trigger for you. But you can control it. Right now we can control it here in the house by talking to Grace. If you don't want to I will, she'll understand."

"I don't want her feeling guilty over this," Danny says with a shiver. It's been a struggle reconnecting, getting over the guilt of how close he came to throwing away everything including his little girl all for Victor Hesse. He wants her to shoulder no blame for what has just happened. It's an after effect of Victor and nothing she could control up until this point.

"She won't I promise," Steve says firmly. "You need to talk about it? About how you're feeling, what memories it brought up?"

"Not yet," Danny shakes his head. It's too soon after the moment, later that night when he'd had time to pull himself together he'd be able to analyse properly. "Later please."

"'kay," Steve agrees with a nod before cupping his jaw in his hands, tilting his face up and giving him a soft, loving smile. The tenderness was more than a fair helping of comfort Danny needed there and then. "I'm here when you need me."

"I know," Danny replies with a smile, realising his body and mind have calmed considerably after a few minutes in his lovers arms. "Thank you."

Steve seals the moment with a gentle, sweet kiss against his lips, lingering for a moment before pulling away. 

"Shall we finish up in here? Then I'll talk to Grace and we can get started on the food," Steve suggests, giving his arm a tug towards the bed.

"Sounds like a plan," Danny sighs, pulling in a deep breath and following him over. The bed is quickly made and Danny doesn't say a word as they exit the bedroom, heading straight for the stairs as Steve heads for Grace's room. It feels cowardly, but he doesn't want her to feel bad for what has happened, it's just one of those things, out of his control, out of hers. He escaped to the kitchen to prepare for supper and soon enough Steve joins him, giving his shoulder a squeeze as he passes.

"It won't happen again," Steve promises calmly. "At least not in the house."

"Thanks," Danny replies with a small smile, glancing upwards. "Is she -?"

"She got a little panicked, but she wasn't to know Danny. I told her not to shoulder any blame. Took a couple of minutes to figure which song it was, she had her playlist on random. Can't say I didn't feel something myself when I heard it, so god knows what you were feeling."

Steve looks at him with a look of regret and remorse, but it was out of his control also and Danny gives a small shrug, patting his arm.

"Go light up the coals, I'll whip up a salad," Danny says, wanting to move on to other normal, every day things. Take his mind off the memories still lingering on the edges. He knew it would be a night filled with nightmares, sometimes little things triggered him and he had to deal with restless nights because of them. So a big trigger like today would definitely have repurcussions. But Steve would be right there with him, a source of strength and comfort when Hesse haunted his dreams.

~ fin ~


End file.
